How To Tell If You Have A Personal Injury Case
If another party has been negligent or you were injured in an accident you may be able to file a personal injury case. How to tell if you have a personal injury case may be helped with the assistance of an attorney. Your case will be reviewed and determined to see if you possess the grounds to file a suit. Your injury must be recent as there is a statute of limitations that differs by state. In some places it can be as short as 30 days and in others as long as several years. You should file as soon as you can to make your case more credible in the eyes of the judge. The case you are filing must clearly be the fault of the other party.
A civil lawsuit is the legal mechanism by which people hold others responsible for their actions. A civil suit is brought against a person by another person and are commonly under tort law. You have been wronged and you want financial remuneration. The process to file varies by jurisdiction and by case. There are some commonalities such as you will need to file documents and paperwork with the court. You need to be able to prove your case. You should find council that specializes in this field as it can be a very complex area of law. Insurance companies will offer settlements but if you experience serious injuries you should file a lawsuit. The steps you can take in order to file start with determining whether you possess the potential to file a personal suit. If you have been injured due to another person's negligence or by their actions you possess the grounds. If you accept an insurance company's offer settlement you will be forfeiting the right to prosecute further unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Gather evidence of your injury, get a police report, photographs or videos taken at the scene and of the scene of the accident. Include medical documents and anything that shows you are losing income due to your injury. Contact people that are involved in the accident if there were others, contact witnesses that may be able to testify as to what happened. Contact a personal injury attorney as soon as you can after the injury to stay within the statute of limitations. Review your case with the attorney and show them your documentation. Disclose all facts and do not present misleading information. You must be absolutely honest. Create a file and include all of your medical bills, all of your employment records and all compensation records or record of lost income due to the injury. Include comments from your doctor regarding your health and recommendations for therapy or surgeries that are needed.
Total up your damages, summarize all of your medical bills that are past and what you can expect from the future, income you are losing and will lose in the future, property damage, compensation for suffering and pain and perhaps even punitive damages. File a complaint that outline the facts of the accident, the when, how, where and whom was involved. Make a list of your injuries and your damage claim. File the complaint at the courthouse after it has been signed by you. You will be assigned a case number and a judge, then you will pay a filing fee.
A summons will be served to the other party, it is served by a third party or a process server. The sheriff's office may also serve it. Make sure you collect all the facts before getting to this step, you will want to make sure you everything that happened is included. This step is only done if you did not hire an attorney, if you have an attorney they will do all of this work for you.
Consider your settlement options, which may happen before you file a case, sometimes you could come to an agreement out of court. Retain a personal attorney to review your settlement, they can negotiate the best settlement for you and may be able to get additional options for you. Press charges if you have a strong case or if negotiations do not go well with the settlement. Your attorney will file the suit for you. Even when you have filed you may not be required to go to court, your attorney will negotiate with the insurance company before trail begins. If the party at fault immediately offers you a settlement contact an attorney to review it before you proceed.
Take care in choosing the right attorney, it should be based on their experience and reputation as well as the community's feelings about them. Do not choose a Sarasota attorney based on the settlement he or she got for your friend or neighbor, each case is unique. They may not be able to get the same results for you, find someone who has experience with your particular injury.
How to tell if you have a personal injury case can be difficult. If you believe that you were injured due to someone else being negligent it is your right to compensation from the business or person at fault . Make sure to keep complete records of everything that happened, document everything in great detail and keep all of your medical records and any loss of time from your employment. If you have doctor's records that show you have a condition that is tied to the injury this will validate your claim. In cases that involve medical negligence or malpractice document how the staff was at fault, show if the physician deviated from standard practices, prove if the pharmacist gave you the wrong medication or a nurse who did not check you chart for an allergic condition. If you are dealing with an accident or events that ended up with an injury, for example, show how the driver did not stop at the red light, how the pet owner did not restrain his dog or how store personnel did not ensure customer safety. An Sarasota lawyer who specializes in personal injury can be of great assistance and guide you through the process.
